


race to the finish line

by narcissablaxk



Category: Cobra Kai (Web Series), Karate Kid (Movies)
Genre: Fluff, Humor, Imbalance of Nature universe, M/M, Shenanigans, Sitcom scenarios, Two halves of a whole idiot, Valentine's Day themed?, lawrusso, proposal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-15 20:09:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,128
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29441694
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/narcissablaxk/pseuds/narcissablaxk
Summary: The proposal from the Imbalance of Nature universe. Written by public demand.
Relationships: Daniel LaRusso/Johnny Lawrence
Comments: 22
Kudos: 106





	race to the finish line

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoy how absolutely idiotic these two are, because it is my primary source of serotonin.

Johnny’s brain was bad at telling him stuff before his mouth said it out loud. He’d known that from a young age – when he told Ali that a shirt she’d gotten was an ugly shade of green, she’d given him the finger and stomped away. The words coming out of his mouth were as much a surprise to him as they were to her; he’d barely even given the shirt much thought. Now, as he was sitting next to his son at the little round table where they ate meals, he looked down at his toaster waffles and said: 

“I think I’m going to propose to LaRusso.” 

To his credit, his son didn’t drop his fork on the plate and make a fuss. He froze, mouth still open, waffle dripping a mixture of peanut butter and honey all over the plate. Johnny let the words ring, echoing off the corners of the little house like a weird screensaver he hadn’t managed to change yet, and wondered if he liked the way they sounded. 

Yeah, he kind of did. 

“You gonna give me more than that?” Robby finally asked, waffle chunk abandoned on the paper plate. 

_Oh._ Johnny shrugged, though now that the sentiment was out there and someone else knew about it, he felt a twinge of nerves swing through him like a pendulum. “I don’t have...more than that.” 

“So you don’t have a plan?” Robby asked. “Or a ring? Do you even know if he wants to get married again? Have you guys even talked about it?” 

And that, honestly, was a little too much all at once. Johnny shoved food into his mouth, pretending that he _would_ answer those questions, you know, if he didn’t have a mouth full of food. It would be rude, after all. 

But Robby was right, which was his default setting, now that he was making good grades and going out for date nights with Moon and leaving little college brochures around the house. Johnny was consistently and often proud of him, to the point of bursting, but right now, he was a little affronted that Robby wasn’t…happy. He was just…smart. 

“Dad,” Robby said, flatly and a little disappointedly. “Please tell me you weren’t going to wing it.” 

“I wasn’t going to wing it.” He had, in fact, winged his proposal to Shannon, though a blurted _marry me_ in the middle of sex wasn’t exactly a proposal, even if she thought it was, but he certainly wasn’t going to tell his son that. “What do you think I should do?” 

“Mining me for information?” Robby asked, quirking an eyebrow. “Smooth.” He stood up and took his empty plate with him, little puddles of honey left behind. “But Moon is picking me up in ten minutes for school and I need to brush my teeth.” 

Johnny wasn’t proud of it, but he definitely followed his son into the bathroom and leaned against the doorframe. “You and LaRusso are close, right?” 

Robby raised his eyebrows with the toothbrush sticking out of his mouth. 

“So you could…maybe….” 

He groaned and spit some of the toothpaste out. “I am _not_ going to spy for you!” 

“Just find out if he wants to get married again,” Johnny begged. “That’s all, that’s it, I swear. I’ll…”

“Let me stay over at Moon’s one Friday night?” Robby asked hopefully. 

“I’ll even give you condoms –”

“No, Dad, we’re gonna go camping at this – ugh, never mind,” Robby quickly stuck the toothbrush back in his mouth and got to work, lightning speed. “I will fish for you, but I don’t promise results,” he said, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. 

“That’s my boy,” Johnny said affectionately, ruffling his hair. “Good god, son, your hair’s a disaster,” he called after him. 

“I hate you!” 

“Love you too!” 

***

“Robby, can I talk to you? In my office?” 

Daniel still didn’t feel comfortable in his office – the pictures of Amanda had been taken down, out of respect for Anoush, who had just started to come around to the idea of Daniel and Amanda managing to be platonic friends and also exes, and had been replaced with new ones, ones that had Johnny and Robby in them, or Anthony and Samantha but not their mother. 

He did it out of politeness but it still looked wrong. 

Robby stepped into the room, shutting the glass door carefully behind him. Daniel leaned forward in his chair, trying to decide if the sound of his foot tapping under the table was as loud as it seemed. 

Robby didn’t seem to notice. 

“What’s up?” he asked, dropping into the chair across from him. As a habit, he reached out and poked the Mets bobblehead, grinning when it wiggled. “I have a ride home tonight, if that’s –”

Daniel waved him off. “That’s not it. I wanted to talk to you about something important.” 

Robby furrowed his brows. “Okay, shoot.” 

Daniel took a deep breath, prepared himself to speak, and then hesitated. He’d done this once before and the experience was wholly different, in surroundings, in company, in execution. It unsettled him, looking at the kid he regarded now as practically his own son. 

“I want to ask for your permission to propose to your father.” 

Daniel was mostly proud to say that he knew most of Robby’s faces. He’d spent a lot of time working closely with him, and annoyingly enough, many of his facial expressions mirrored his father’s. So when Robby’s eyebrows twitched and he tightened his jaw, Daniel knew that he had never seen that face before. 

“What?” Daniel asked. “You don’t think I should?” 

Robby closed his eyes and when he opened them, looked up at the ceiling, and then down at the ground, like he was looking for something. Patience, maybe, Daniel thought wildly. Who knew? 

“You _do_ think I should?” he tried again. “Robby, help me out here, you’re making me nervous.” 

“You’re asking my permission?” Robby finally asked. “Isn’t that for daughters and their dads?” 

“Well,” Daniel shrugged. “I figured a lot of big decisions have been made without your input and you should have a say,” he said mildly, calmer now that Robby wasn’t making faces. “If you don’t want me to, I won’t, Robby, seriously. I will respect your wishes.” 

“Nah, go ahead,” Robby said with a grin. “You have my permission, or blessing, or whatever.” 

Daniel grinned at him. “Really?” he asked. “You mean it?” 

Robby stood up and offered his hand, like they were making a business deal. “Seriously. You just made my weekend.” 

“What does that mean?” 

“Nothing!” 

He watched Robby leave, trying to catch his gaze again to try to puzzle out his sly grin, or explain why this conversation had been so short, especially when he had planned for a much longer argument, with rebuttals and evidence and even a PowerPoint presentation. But Robby didn’t look back – Daniel just saw him shake his head and laugh on his way down the hallway. 

He pulled up the minimized window of wedding rings and scrolled a couple more times. 

***

Johnny wasn’t proud of the fact that he used his lunch break to pretend like he was sick so he didn’t have to go back to work, but he’d gotten pretty used to it during high school, so while he wasn’t proud, he was definitely effective. 

Once freed from the bonds of employment for the day, he texted Miguel and asked him if he could skip the rest of the school day to help him with something. He considered asking Robby, but he still only had three absences in a school year and didn’t want to risk it. What if that nerd got a cold out camping with Moon? 

Miguel didn’t even bother to answer – he met Johnny by the back door, his backpack slung over his shoulder, questioning grin on his face. He jogged over, plopping heavily into the passenger’s seat. 

“What’s going on, Sensei?” he asked. 

“We’re going to the mall,” he said, pointing at the seatbelt so Miguel would put it on. “You’re good at the sappy shit, right?” 

Miguel shrugged. 

“Good,” Johnny said, not bothering to wait for an answer. “Because I need someone whose good at sappy shit to make sure I’m not getting too good at it.” 

Miguel pursed his lips and pulled out his phone, scrolling on social media while Johnny drove. They sat in comfortable silence the rest of the drive, the truck clunking along, reminding Johnny that he never did get his Challenger back, and really, he should have taken Daniel up on his offer to give Johnny another car. 

He still didn’t know where to go in the damn mall, so he wandered around, Miguel trailing behind him, probably trying to figure out when he should ask Johnny what they were doing here. 

He found a ring store, lit with gold lightbulbs and decorated with fluffy teddy bears, after about half an hour of wandering. He stepped cautiously past the invisible barrier, where the floor of the mall turned into another kind of weird tile, and heard Miguel stumble to change direction. 

“Sensei?” he asked, the question so obvious it need not be asked. 

Johnny turned back to him, catching Miguel in the act of poking one of those teddy bears experimentally. 

“You’re going to help me pick out a ring,” he said, adding on quickly. “No mushy shit, Diaz, I don’t have the time. Just help.” 

Miguel heaved a breath through his mouth. “Okay, well…am I allowed to say congratulations? Or…”

Johnny shrugged one shoulder. “Not until he says yes.” 

Miguel nodded, simple as that, and took Johnny by the arm and guided him over to the men’s side. It was only a small little window, much smaller than all the sparkly shit intended for women, but that somehow eased Johnny’s worry. Fewer choices, fewer opportunities to get it wrong. 

“Good afternoon, sir, looking for a ring for a special someone?” the girl on the other side of the counter was almost too perky, so much so that Johnny almost recoiled and left, fuck the plan. But Miguel put a hand on his arm and smoothly interrupted his cringe. 

“His boyfriend,” Miguel said, in a tone that suggested that any sort of contradiction would be met with no mercy. The girl did nothing but blink and move forward. 

“That sounds lovely, sir, do you know what kind of metal you’re looking for?” she asked, and Johnny could do nothing but blink at her, because what _the fuck_ kind of question was that, and who cared? 

“Metal?” 

“Well, platinum has been very popular lately,” the girl said, and Johnny took the time to glance toward her nametag. Nancy. Unfortunate name. “Probably because it’s nearly indestructible. It’s very durable.” 

“Sounds badass,” Johnny admitted, looking down at the ring she was pointing at. 

“What is your boyfriend like?” Nancy asked. “Is he more trendy, or conservative? Is he…?”

“He’s a classic kinda guy,” Johnny mumbled, the words sounding a little too heartfelt, even for what they were doing, even if they were in the mall in the middle of a school day, with no witnesses. “Traditional.” 

“Then he might like classic gold,” Nancy said, pointing down at a couple of gold bands, near the front. 

“And you can always get it engraved,” Miguel hissed out of the corner of his mouth. 

“Your son is right –”

Miguel elbowed him happily. Johnny rolled his eyes and didn’t comment. 

“You can get the ring engraved, so it has a special message on the inside,” Nancy said, watching Johnny and Miguel communicate nonverbally. “It’ll take a few weeks to get it, though, in case you were…you know, in a rush. 

“What gave you that idea?” Johnny asked, even though he was kind of anxious to do it, to blurt out the words and put them out into the world. 

Nancy gave him a sympathetic smile. “Your buttons are buttoned wrong.” 

***

Daniel figured that doing this once before would make it easier the second time. He hadn’t been nervous when he proposed to Amanda – they’d talked about getting married extensively before he bought the ring, and when he invited her out to that restaurant on the water, she’d known before he got down on one knee what was happening. 

But this wasn’t like that at all. 

He was in jeans, for starters. That certainly didn’t feel appropriate, but they were at Golf N Stuff, so if he showed up in slacks, Johnny would be suspicious. The ring box was in his jacket pocket, and every single time he moved, Daniel could feel it. It was a reminder, a prompting, and if he kept thinking about it too much, he was just gonna say it, over the ninth hole of mini-golf, and if Johnny said no, he might have to hit him over the head with a golf club. 

He’d asked Robby if Johnny even believed in marriage – Robby had just shrugged and said that his dad had married his mom, so he guessed so. No other information was available. So here he was, hoping that he hadn’t massively miscalculated who Johnny was as a person because if he had, then what was he proposing for anyway? 

In all the _Lifetime_ movies he watched (as inspiration, he claimed), the step-son was always more helpful than this. 

And Johnny was acting _weird._ Sure, he was his usual competitive pain in the ass, but he was playing _badly_ , missing easy shots and tapping the ball when he was just lining up his shot. And he wasn’t even mad that he was losing so badly, which might be the weirdest part. No, he was distracted, and Daniel thought very seriously about scrapping the whole idea and doing it when Johnny wasn’t acting like he got body snatched. 

“Are you sure you’re alright?” he asked for what felt like the tenth time, when Johnny’s ball bounced against the windmill and came rolling back to him. 

“I’m fine, LaRusso,” Johnny said shortly. 

“Because usually you’re ready to break the entire windmill down,” Daniel pointed out. 

“I’m _fine_.” 

“Did I piss you off or something?” Daniel asked, because he was running out of reasons and Johnny usually had more to say. “Because you can just say –”

“Jesus Christ, okay,” Johnny said, dropping his club on the ground and fumbling with his pocket. Daniel furrowed his brow – what the _hell_ was he doing? His mind offered him a million options – had Kreese left some kind of threatening note at the Cobra Kai dojo? Had Silver resurfaced, even though he was still pretty sure he was dead? Had Robby gotten in trouble? All were more unlikely than the one before. 

And then Johnny got down on one knee, like he was going to tie his shoe, and Daniel’s brain said _holy shit holy shit holy shit_ even though the rest of his body hadn’t really caught up yet. 

And then Johnny scrambled to his feet and took him by the shoulders. 

“I forgot to do something,” he said, and Daniel was pretty sure his boyfriend had lost his entire fucking mind, and then he kissed Daniel on the forehead and said “I’ll be right back, don’t go anywhere.” 

Daniel watched him tighten his hand around something gold and walk away so fast he might as well have been jogging. 

He couldn’t have…

Right? 

***

Johnny really needed a beer. Or six. Never mind that he’d cut down on drinking significantly, so much that he got a little buzzed after three beers now, which was unheard of and definitely _not_ badass, but he figured today was a special occasion. 

He fumbled with his phone, careful to make sure the gold ring was in his pocket again before pulling it out, scrolling through his contacts, and finding Sam LaRusso’s number. He hit the FaceTime button, knowing that she was with her brother, and Miguel, and Miguel would tell him he needed to do this face-to-face. 

Except he’d forgotten to do it earlier, what with the picking up of the ring and the whole choosing clothes for the most important day of his life thing, so he was doing it now, after making a complete ass of himself and possibly ruining the entire thing before it started. 

Sam picked up after the phone rang awkwardly twice. Johnny thanked whoever the hell was up there that the bathroom was empty, and that Daniel hadn’t followed him. 

“Sensei Lawrence?” she asked, worry lacing her tone. “Are you alright? Where’s dad?” 

“Hey Sensei,” Miguel popped his head in from the left. “Did you do it?” 

“Do what?” Sam asked. 

“You didn’t ask her?” Miguel asked. 

“That’s why I’m here, Diaz,” Johnny snapped. “So _shush_.” 

“Right, sorry,” he grimaced and slid out of the frame, and a moment later, Johnny could hear Anthony’s voice. 

“I don’t want to talk to – hey, dude,” he said, jostling into the frame. “Miguel says I have to be here for some stupid reason?” 

“Okay, so,” he began, trying to find the right words for what should probably be a big speech. “Um, well –”

“Do you want me to do it?” Miguel asked from off camera. 

“No, dammit,” Johnny snapped, watching the way Sam’s eyes were darting between the phone and Miguel, like she was rapidly putting puzzle pieces together. She was always the smartest one, anyway. 

She pursed her lips like she was trying not to smile. “Just say it,” she encouraged. “Don’t be a pussy.” 

“ _Sam_!” 

“I’m going to ask your dad to marry me,” he said in a blur of words. “And I know that like…I don’t have to ask your permission or whatever –”

“Sensei –”

“But it would be a real dick move to not tell you first,” Johnny continued in a rush. “And he’s literally outside waiting for me, so I really gotta go.” 

“Well, I don’t give you permission,” Anthony sniffed, leaning into the phone. “So you can’t propose.” 

“ _Anthony!_ ” Sam snapped. “You can’t blackmail him into buying you a PS5.” 

Anthony glared up at her. “Fine, then do what you want.” 

“Thank you?” Johnny asked. “Dick.” 

“Asshole.” 

“ _Anyway_ ,” Sam interrupted, shoving Anthony out of the way. “I think it’s a great idea, Sensei Lawrence. And remember to look surprised.” 

“What?” 

“Nothing, I’ve got to go.” 

The screen went blank, and Johnny could see his haggard reflection, covered in his own fingerprints. “What the fuck?” he asked to his own visage before shoving the phone back into his pocket. 

He splashed water on his face and stared at himself in the mirror before going back out there. “Nut up,” he muttered, shaking his arms out like he was preparing for a fight. 

He opened the bathroom door and stepped out, his eyes searching for Daniel at the hole where he left him. Except he wasn’t there. 

“Hey,” his voice said to his left. 

Johnny turned and saw a stuffed shark instead of his boyfriend’s face. He pushed it down and fought a smile at the sight of Daniel’s expectant face, bright and happy. 

“You were gone a while so I won you this,” he said, pushing the shark into Johnny’s arms. “I’m stupid good at skee-ball.” 

“I remember you telling me every _single_ time we come here,” Johnny muttered, holding onto the little stuffed shark, soft and squishy and a little too much like a stress ball to survive the evening if they weren’t careful. “So, LaRusso –”

“Walk with me,” he interrupted, looping an arm into Johnny’s. 

“We don’t need to walk –”

“Johnny, come on,” Daniel wheedled. “You were losing in mini-golf anyway.” 

Johnny pulled him to a stop, gentle around their connected arm, and Daniel looked up at him with a smile that he recognized. “What?” he asked. “What’s the face for?” 

“I’m just trying to decide what to do,” Daniel said vaguely. 

“About?” 

“Oh everything, John,” Daniel murmured, and then he was holding both of Johnny’s hands, the shark’s fin stuck between their interlocked fingers. 

Johnny furrowed his brows at him. “I don’t get it,” he said frankly. “Are you going to talk in riddles all night?” 

Daniel looked up at him, just a tilt of his head that reflected the light in his eyes and turned them copper. “No, I’m just drawing this out so I’ll remember it,” he said, and then he released one of Johnny’s hands and reached into his jacket pocket. 

“LaRusso, don’t,” Johnny warned, a threat and a warning. “Just – just give me a second.” 

“Do you want to do this at the same time?” Daniel asked, grinning. “Because if you get down on one knee again, you might not get back up.” 

“Fuck you, I work out,” Johnny mumbled, reaching into his pocket for his ring. 

“You don’t stretch nearly enough,” Daniel pointed out, and the ring box was already in his hand, and Johnny was trying to hold back a smile, because he was already offering Johnny his left hand, ring finger lifted. 

“Marry me, you asshole,” Johnny said, sliding the ring onto Daniel’s finger. 

“You first, dick,” Daniel retorted, opening the little ring box, the gold band on his left finger shining. Johnny allowed himself a second to look at the ring, dark grey but not the right grey for the ring to be made of silver or something –

“It’s made out of platinum,” Daniel explained. “I thought it would be –”

“ _Badass_ ,” they said in unison. 

“Yeah,” Daniel breathed, taking the ring out of the box and slipping it on his finger. Johnny laughed, giddy and childish, and knocked the box clean out of Daniel’s hand to pull him in for a kiss, holding tightly to the stuffed shark. 

***

“So did Robby tell you?” Johnny asked in the car on the way home. “That I was going to propose?” 

“Robby?” Daniel repeated. “Did – did Robby tell _you_ something?” 

“No,” Johnny shrugged one shoulder. “I asked him to fish for info, but he didn’t give me shit.” 

“He didn’t give me anything either!” 

“I can’t believe I’m going to kick my own kid’s ass,” Johnny muttered, adding at Daniel’s affronted look, “I’m kidding!” 

“I asked him for permission,” Daniel admitted. 

“What am I, a peasant girl with two sheep?” Johnny asked. “You get no land through this unholy union, you know that, right?” 

“I was trying to be considerate,” Daniel sneered, rolling his eyes. “You know, like nice people do.” 

“Yeah, I called your kids from the bathroom,” Johnny said nonchalantly. 

“You called –” Daniel hid his laugh behind his hand. “Is that why you got up and ran like your ass was on fire?” 

“I left in a _dignified way_ –”

“I’ve seen Muppets move with more grace –”

“Oh fuck you, LaRusso, wedding’s off –”

“Yeah right,” Daniel snorted. “You’re not going anywhere now.” 

Johnny sighed, looking down at the stuffed shark on his lap. “Yeah, I’m not.” 

They pulled up to the house, Daniel’s parking spot blocked by Sam’s white Audi, the spot next to that blocked by Moon’s little pale blue car. 

“I thought they were at Amanda’s,” Johnny remarked, seeing the lights on in the house and the movement behind the windows. 

“Except you called my kids from the _bathroom_ ,” Daniel pointed out. “Of course they’re here now.” 

Robby met them at the door, a smile on his face that bordered on smug. “So which one of you got it out first?” he asked. 

“You couldn’t help out your dad with a warning?” Johnny hissed. 

“Or your sensei?” Daniel added. 

Robby bit his lip and grinned. “Nope,” he said. “Congratulations.” 

And the congratulations bled into more.

“Did you like the ring?” Miguel asked Daniel when the night had started to wind down. “The inside?” 

“The inside?” Daniel asked. He looked down at the ring on his finger. “You didn’t tell me there was something inside.” 

Johnny shrugged. “I forgot,” he said. “It was kind of a blur.” 

He wrestled the ring off his finger and squinted at the inside of it, trying to read it. Rolling his eyes, Johnny passed him his reading glasses, much to the laughter of the whole room. 

Johnny watched Daniel’s eyes find the words and read them, then blink and read them again. He felt Daniel’s right hand in his tighten and smiled. _Nailed it._

“What does it say, Dad?” Sam asked. 

“Yeah, we’re dying here,” Moon added, leaning back into Robby’s chest. 

“It says _‘must not lose to fear,’_ ” Johnny wondered if anyone else heard the way Daniel’s voice shook at the words. He wrapped one arm around him and pulled him close enough to kiss the top of his head. 

“ _’You’re alright’_ didn’t feel romantic enough,” he said, and the room was full of laughter again.

**Author's Note:**

> I have used the quote "must not lose to fear" like a thousand times because it's MY FAVORITE and I'm gonna get it tattooed on me one day so you all have to deal with it.


End file.
